How We Relax
by Kalira69
Summary: Pidge and Keith enjoy different kinds of downtime, but they can still share a relaxing holiday that suits both of them. (Written for Pidge Ship Week, Day 7)


Written for Pidge Ship Week, Day 7: Nature.

* * *

Pidge dropped onto the top of one of the larger crates littered about the hangar, frowning. She crossed her legs. "Why did I agree to this?" she whined pointedly.

Keith leaned one hip against another crate nearby. "Because we both badly need some time off, and at the moment nothing seems too likely to explode while we're gone." he said, running a hand through his hair. He did look worn out, though it was only mid-morning, and Pidge _felt_ it herself. She sighed.

"But I _hate_ nature!" Pidge complained anyway. "I don't even want to _be_ out there!"

Keith patted her on the head, and she growled at him.

Keith, being the ass that he was, only laughed at her and playfully tugged a lock of her hair, unfazed. "You'll be fine, sweetling." he said, shaking his head. "You've got six crates full of your toys to play with and a well-insulated building you don't even have to step outside of the whole time if you don't feel like it. It'll be like you never came near _nature_." he teased.

Pidge opened her mouth, then closed it. That was true. And Keith might be happy if she joined him to explore the mountain around the cabin they'd be staying in, but she _knew_ him - if she never ventured outside with him for the length of their stay, Keith would also be perfectly happy to leave her alone to work all day while he . . . communed with nature or meditated in the woods with his knife or whatever it was he did out there. For as high strung as Keith could be he was a remarkably easygoing partner.

"Ready to go?" Keith asked, balancing two of her crates that were probably both almost as heavy as she was in his arms. Pidge shook her head slightly at him - it wasn't like they needed to be loaded in a hurry - then nodded agreement, slipping off the crate.

"Okay, sure." Pidge looked over the rest of her equipment and concluded that it was all actually too heavy for her to easily get up the ramp into the pod, and frowned. She grabbed her personal bag instead and left the equipment for her boyfriend to shift, making a mental note to use smaller crates for her heavier stuff next time.

* * *

Pidge hummed, tapping her fingertips against her work surface as she waited for the chip she'd just hooked up to send back a result. It flashed its indicator lights in no particular pattern, then buzzed back no information on the small screen it was plugged into. She sighed. Well, no error message this time, at least. Possibly progress.

"Hey sweetling. Dinner's ready downstairs if you can leave off where you are."

"Okay babe, cool." Pidge said absently, tweaking a circuit and trying to keep the finger she'd nicked earlier away from it as it sparked. "Wait, dinner?" She lifted her head, blinking.

Keith laughed behind her, and she twisted around. He was still on the ladder, only his head and shoulders in the loft, and the light she could make out from below was red-orange with the sunset. "Yes, sweetling." Keith said pointedly. "Ready to come down?"

Not really, but now she'd straightened a bit she hurt from her hips to the nape of her neck, and she was hungry - she'd been up here, leaning over her workbench and the new transceiver she was trying to puzzle out, since mid-morning without a break. Pidge stretched slowly, wincing, and turned off her work lights before squeezing through the narrow space to get away from her desk.

Keith waited for her at the ladder, and Pidge dropped down to the floor in front of him, kissing his cheek before he started down out of her way. He smiled, and Pidge hummed thoughtfully before she followed him downstairs. He'd definitely showered, but he still smelled like trees. Or possibly dirt.

Startled, Pidge let out a quiet yelp as Keith plucked her off the ladder before she'd quite reached the bottom, then punched him in the shoulder for the surprise. Lightly. Keith laughed and squeezed her tighter, then let her down halfway across the main room of the cabin.

Pidge stretched again before following him into the kitchen and perching on one of the stools by the counter. They ate at the counter, around a corner from each other, and Keith talked a little about the things he'd seen out on the mountain during his day's exploration.

After dinner they left the dishes in the sink - Pidge told herself she would wash up, but she was self-aware enough to know she'd probably forget again unless Keith reminded her - and curled up on the wide lounger together, sharing an oversized mug of cocoa.

Though Pidge knew he didn't understand at least half, probably more than that, of what she was saying - even after years on the Castle of Lions, surrounded by amazingly advanced and beautiful tech, not to mention listening to her - Keith asked about her day's work. Pidge snuggled into him, toying with his fingers, and told him happily about her progress and the hitches she was working around.

When Pidge began to get worked up, huffing about the connectivity problem that had been plaguing her today, Keith tugged her hair playfully to distract her. She huffed again, pouting, but quieter this time. Keith petted her hair, mercifully keeping his fingers from getting tangled. He had a lot of practise.

"The Olkari tech we planted when we got here is taller than me, now; time to start playing with it?" Keith asked idly.

"Oh, really?" Pidge had sort of forgotten she meant to check on it, getting absorbed in the other projects she'd brought to keep her occupied on their holiday. "Yeah, then." She hummed. "I was really getting into the transceiver problem. . . But the Olkari tech is something I can't really work with on the Castle." It was why she had barely experimented with it - it needed not only dirt, but sunlight and proper atmosphere, and maybe even something indefinable it could only get on a real planet. Figuring out what that indefinable thing might be was one of Pidge's goals working with it, actually, although maybe one of the more unlikely ones.

"Maybe the break from your problem circuit will help you work it out, too." Keith suggested, shifting beneath her and lying back a little. "Do you want me to stick around with you while you do that tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Pidge grinned, snuggling her head a little closer on Keith's shoulder to get past the harshest angle of his collarbone. "Can you think in binary code? It would actually help to have a second tester, too."

"Pidge, sweetling," Keith said, with a soft, deep laugh, his fingers trailing up her belly, "I love you _and_ your twisty, tricky brain, but I will never, _ever_ be able to think in binary code." he told her, tickling her breastbone and squeezing her around the waist.

Pidge giggled, squirming, and elbowed him in the ribs as hard as she could from this angle. He laughed breathlessly, his embrace loosening a little, and Pidge turned over in his arms to drape herself over his chest instead, head against his neck. She stopped, lifting her head and pulling off her glasses, handing them to her boyfriend for him to set aside before settling more comfortably. She rubbed her thumb apologetically over the red mark the wire frames had left on his throat. "Yeah I suppose not." she said, tsking.

"You figure out a way to make it respond to something a little less complex, and I'll help you test it, but unless you can hand me _exactly_ the sequence you need me to think to it, I won't be much help tomorrow." Keith said, rubbing his knuckles over her spine at the small of her back. "At least, not with that."

"I might be able to do that. The sequence, not the simpler language," Pidge clarified, frowning slightly, "I won't know about that until I've had a lot more time to play." Another one of her goals. She liked the tech and had almost no problems using it as it was, but none of her teammates could quite think their way around in the right code.

"Whatever you like." Keith said lazily, yawning. Pidge smiled against his shoulder, thinking absently that they should probably get up and move to bed soon or they were going to wind up falling asleep on the lounge. Again.

Keith was warm and comfortable beneath her, though, and his languid petting and the quiet stillness was soothing her to sleep. Keith certainly wasn't likely to wake up enough to remember the need to move at this point - Pidge had seen him sleep with apparent comfort wrapped in a blanket on the floor, more than once, and _he_ had been out hiking the mountain all day. He was probably comfortably worn out, too.

Pidge lifted her head enough to peek at his face, yawning. Keith's eyes were closed and he looked peaceful.

"Keith, babe." Pidge said quietly, tugging at a lock of his hair. "Wake up and come to bed at least." she reminded.

It took another light tug and a murmur of his name, but Keith sighed and opened his eyes, making a soft sound of complaint.

"Bed, babe?" Pidge reminded, and Keith sighed again, arms tightening around her waist as he nuzzled against her chin. After a few moments he released Pidge with a light nudge to help her to her feet. Pidge held out her hands and helped pull Keith up after her, leaning up to kiss him before leading the way towards the bedroom.


End file.
